Parker J, Precup J, Fu C
Department of Microbiology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901.
FEMS Microbiol Lett. 1992 Dec 15;100(1-3):141-5. doi: 10.1111/j.1574-6968.1992.tb14032.x.
It has previously been shown that either phenylalanine codon, UUU or UUC, could be misread as leucine during phenylalanine starvation, if the codons encoded residue 8 of the Escherichia coli argI gene product, ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC). However, no leucine misincorporation was detected when either of these same codons encoded residue 3. Here we report that leucine misincorporation can be directed by a UUU codon for residue 3 of OTC during phenylalanine starvation, if the argI gene has been mutated so that the codon preceding the UUU has been changed from the rarely used glycine codon GGG to the more commonly used GGC.
